Pine Shaker Closet Dresser #1: Designing and materials

We finished building our house in 2008, but there are all those little projects that you have to set yourself to get done or it will never happen.

In addition to getting side tracked, the shop (garage) or what ever you call it, starts to fill as storage. The amount of things that need fixing keeps stacking up too.

But today is the day we start a new project. I need to build a dresser that will fit right in my closet, between the vertical pine members, just the way we planned it 4 years ago.

I wanted to give this dresser a shaker look. There are a some real nice examples of dressers still around that those Shaker guys made years ago. I choose the “pharmaceutical design” with the increasingly larger drawers towards the bottom.

I wanted to build this dresser partly because I wanted to know how to do it. I have built lots of cabinets, but never a dresser. A dresser is different with all the stretchers in it. Christian Becksvoort with FWW has done a fine job showing how to build them. I am not following all him all the way. I was going to use dovetailed drawers without drawer slides, but not on this dresser. I need this thing to be done. I need to cut out some of the fancies.

The rest of the closet is built out of knotty pine and so will this dresser. Pine is a very beautifully wood. I like pine and so did the Shakers.

The other non-shaker thing I will do is use the Kregg pocket jig to put the different frame members together. I have used this jig a lot for all my other cabinets in the house.

Before gluing up the side panels, I used my jointer plane to straighten the edges for a good glue joint.

I mark the panels with the V-mark so all boards have their own spot and I can keep track of them.

I am very exited about building this dresser, and I have a feeling my better half as well. I need to build e second one for another closet as well. As I am writing this I made great progress putting parts together.

Below you see the shop-notes I have on this dresser.

I will keep you posted.

PS, I should mention in regards to the first picture, the dresser is for my wife’s closet, but you never post a picture of a wife’s closet (as a well behaved LJ), so I took one of mine.

^I don’t know how much help I’ll be…but I’ll watch real good! I’m actually doing a shaker linen chest right now. I’m about at the same stage you are; just milled up about 1/2 the stock. Mine will be two doors up top; three graduated drawers on the bottom. I’m debating b/w pine and poplar for the secondary wood. Maybe I’ll wait to see how yours goes:)

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

if you come in trouble you know we will be here for you…..to make you more confused and delay you as much as we can with the goal of not letting you finish it …. before we have excaminated every mm of it including all the dust and chips you make …. :-P